What You can Expect in This Book
What if I told you that some of your favorite books of fantasy—Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings—owe a tremendous debt to a man you may never have read, or even heard of?
George MacDonald stands as a pivotal, though often overlooked, figure in the birth of modern fantasy. This book uncovers his remarkable legacy while exploring the enduring power of mythopoeic storytelling to shape spiritual and literary imagination.
Tracing the origins of fantasy through MacDonald’s nineteenth-century works, this study shows how he wove profound spiritual truths into his tales through rich symbolic layers. We examine his influence on contemporaries such as Lewis Carroll and John Ruskin, as well as on later giants like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. A close analysis of key works—including Phantastes and The Princess and the Goblin—underscores MacDonald’s lasting impact on both fantasy literature and Romantic Theology.
By reclaiming MacDonald’s visionary voice, this dissertation restores him to his rightful place at the heart of modern imaginative storytelling.
DTL Monographs
This title belongs to our series titled “DTL Monographs.” Unlike the other series published by the DTL Press, the DTL Monographs Series operates very much like a traditional press. All works published within this series are traditionally authored (or edited) by a human working on a word processor.
We welcome any scholarly writing in the field of religious studies (from monographs and revised dissertations to Feschriften and reference works).